Fancy that. A popular estate agent.

Foxtons was once dubbed the most hated house seller in the land. But the company is suddenly an IPO darling.

It could be worth around £780m, which may explain why every banker in town is hammering down its door.

Was it really only a few years ago that the company - famous for its bright green minis and aggressive sales tactics - was held up as the very symbol of buy-out recklessness?

Now, property is back in vogue. Foxton’s larger rival, Countrywide pulled off an accomplished £750m float earlier this week and has already seen its stock up almost 12pc. In February, house builder Crest Nicholson came to market with a top-of-the-range £550m valuation - and its shares have soared 25pc. No wonder investors are pining for more of the same.

In fact, after yesterday’s housing-friendly Budget, the entire residential property sector is bubbling, with housebuilders like Redrow also seeing its shares get a lift.

Back then, the Democrats pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into buying subprime loans under the premise that all Americans had a human right to own property.

As it turned out, many of them weren’t exactly the best qualified homeowners. Since then, many have criticised Clinton’s policy for sowing the seeds of the subprime crisis.

Under Osborne’s plan, Brits who qualify will be eligible for a Government-funded "equity loan" worth up to 20pc of the value of the property, which will be interest-free for the first five years.

Think tank Fathom has already warned that the policy is fraught with danger.

And many have questioned whether the Government should step in at all, especially in situations where banks have refused to lend - and for properties worth up to £600,000 to boot.

In the UK, however, bricks and mortar is seen just as much as an entitlement as in the US. And, despite the alarm bells, the fundamentals all point to recovery in the housing market.

The question investors must ask is how fast will this happen and how far will valuations go up before rising prices turn into a bubble fit to burst.

Before the crisis there were 1.3m property transactions every year in the UK. That has dropped to 700,000 and flat-lined. The estate agents attracting investor interest are all well positioned to benefit from a return to an uptick in the cycle. That is clear.

Countrywide’s IPO valued the company at 15 times earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda). It’s now valued at 17 times - the same as Savills. Foxtons, which has 37 offices across London and another seven opening this year, will almost certainly be aiming for something similar.

For Foxtons’ private equity owners, BC Partners, redemption could prove a lucrative money-spinner only four years on from where the buy-out group thought it might lose the company altogether.

BC’s ill-timed 2007 swoop made a £300m fortune for Foxtons’ founder, Jon Hunt, with a headline price of £360m. But the acquisition left BC nursing extensive debts just as the property market collapsed in 2008. At its low point,ebitda nosedived to just £10m – with house sales at only 20pc of 2007 levels.

BC admitted it had overpaid for the estate agent just as the banks wrestled a majority stake away from the private equity firm.

However, in a slick move, the private equity firm spent almost £50m to buy back the junior debt and then another £70m to repurchase the majority equity stake from Foxton’s lenders - Bank of America and Mukuho.

Ebitda hit £37.4m last year on £117m sales, and now forecasts point to ebitda growth of about 17pc in 2013 to reach £44m.

You can see why investors might want a piece of the action - even if history shows at some point the roof inevitably comes off.